


Scientific Inquiry

by botherd



Category: Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 20:34:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/299784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/botherd/pseuds/botherd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>"You're saying you kissed me... for science?"</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Scientific Inquiry

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ninamazing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninamazing/gifts).



The cut on her cheek is still bleeding, but Jane wipes the blood away without a second thought. The bad guy's in cuffs and looking at a long stretch in the pen, and that's all she cares about. Nothing's going to stop her from finishing off the paperwork to close this case for good, especially not --

"You should go to the ER." Maura appears next to Jane's desk. "That cut needs stitches."

"It's barely a scratch."

"It could get infected," Maura says, leaning down to peer at the wound. "Someone should take a look at it."

Jane sighs and bats Maura's hand away. "It's nothing. Trust me, I've had worse."

"Let me see to it, Jane." Maura's voice is soft with worry.

Jane turns away only to see Frost exchanging a significant look with Frankie, who apparently has nothing better to do than hang around the department. " _What_?"

Frost smirks at her. "You two are so married."

"No, we're not," Maura says, sounding genuinely puzzled by the remark.

"Ugh," Jane says. "She's acting like my _mother_."

"You should see what they're like at home," Frankie adds, and that's the point where Jane has had _enough_. She glares at Frost and Frankie in turn, then smiles at Maura.

"You know what, suddenly sitting here with these idiots became considerably less appealing. Why don't we go to your office and you can stitch me up?"

"Is that what they're calling it these days?" Frost says as they leave. Jane gives him the finger.

\---

"Okay, I'm going to give you a local anesthetic to numb the pain."

Jane tries not to roll her eyes. "Come on, Maura, I don't need that. It'll just make my face feel weird for the rest of the day."

The look on Maura's face is clear exasperation. "You know you don't have to try and prove your _badass_ credentials around me."

"Damn right I don't; last year I shot myself. No one is questioning my badassness."

"That's not a word."

"Neither is badass, and you used that."

"Yes, but when I used it the scare quotes were implied."

Jane laughs. "Whatever you say. Go ahead doc, stitch me up." She lets Maura give her the anesthetic, just to stop her from fussing, and she watches Maura as she works. The way her forehead creases in concentration, like she's trying really hard to make it perfect and not mess up Jane's face, is kind of adorable. There's no way Jane would've let Maura go near her face if she didn't trust her enough to do it right.

"Can you believe Frost?" Jane says, just to make conversation. "Saying we're married. _Please_. Obviously he's not familiar with the concept of having a best friend."

Maura shrugs. "Recently I've actually noticed a statistical increase in the numbers of remarks implying our relationship is not strictly platonic. Don't you think that's interesting?" She finishes up the last stitch and smiles. "You're all done."

" _Interesting_?" Jane stares at Maura. Of course Maura would turn this into something of scientific interest; that's just how she rolls. "No, I don't think it's interesting. I think they're jerks who are nowhere near as funny as they think they are."

"Why are you so offended by the idea that you might be sexually attracted to me?"

"Jeez, Maura, I'm not _offended_." She throws her hands up. "It's just frustrating because it's not true. How do you not get that?"

For a moment Maura says nothing, just stands there looking at Jane with pursed lips like she's scrutinizing some weird finding in the lab. The silence goes on a moment too long but just as Jane's about to break it, Maura surprises her: she takes a step forward, grabs Jane's face and kisses her.

Being kissed is weird when half your face is numb, and not to mention when the person kissing you is your _best friend_. But Maura's lips are soft and insistent, and Jane finds herself starting to kiss back.

It doesn't last long. Maura pulls away and Jane, bewildered, huffs out a laugh. "What was that?"

"An experiment," Maura says, her expression still doing that _what does this interesting finding mean_ thing.

Raising an eyebrow, Jane says, "You get your scientific ideas from Katy Perry songs now?"

"I'm merely trying to ascertain whether there is any merit to the idea that we should be a couple. The first step of scientific inquiry is the collection of data. Hence, the kiss."

"You're saying you kissed me... for science?" Jane shakes her head. "Okay, so now that you've conducted that little experiment, what were your findings?"

"Inconclusive." Maura's still standing a little too close, looking at Jane in a way she hasn't before, and then she says, "Aha! Your pupils are dilated. You know, that's a clear sign of attraction."

"Or maybe it's a clear sign that you're standing too close to me and blocking out all the light."

"That's a valid hypothesis," Maura concedes, and Jane thinks that's the end of it. Maura shifts away from her slightly and Jane leans back against Maura's desk, taking a deep breath. She casts around for something to say but the air is still thick with tension and she can't seem to find the words to cut through the awkwardness.

Clearly the best thing would be to make her excuses and leave. There's got to be a murder to solve or something, right? "I should probably go," she says, gesturing vaguely at the door. "... Paperwork."

"Right, of course," Maura replies, and Jane's almost at the door when Maura speaks again. "Jane, hold on."

Jane turns and before she can say anything, Maura's crossed the room and she starts kissing her again. And part of Jane thinks this is crazy, because hello, this is so not them, but that part gets drowned out by the rest of her, which realizes that this is actually sort of awesome.

Her face being numb is still weird, because she knows that Maura's hand is on her cheek even though she can't really feel it, but kissing Maura? Less weird, especially because kissing is apparently on the long, long list of things that Maura excels at.

When they pull apart, Maura smiles and places a hand on Jane's chest. "Your heart's racing."

"Don't ruin this by getting your nerd on, all right? You don't need to tell me what that indicates. I know."

"So I think we can conclude that Frost's hypothesis was correct."

"I said don't ruin it." Jane tries to glare at her, but she finds herself smiling instead. "This is kind of weird though, right? I mean, you're my best friend. Are we supposed to start dating now or something?"

"Okay," Maura says. "I'll pick you up at eight."


End file.
